Description
Saint Saens Pavane and Reverie du Soir-Flute and Piano
Saint Saens Pavane and Reverie du Soir-Flute and Piano
Publisher-Pan Educational Music
French Flute Encores
Arranged by Paul Taffanel
Edited by Edward Blakeman
Level-Suitable for flautists of all ages / Grades 5-6
About
Experience the captivating allure of the third movement titled ‘Reverie Du Soir’ (translated as ‘An Evening Dream at Blida’) from Saint-Saen’s Suite Algérienne (1880), as well as the enchanting ‘Pavane’ from his Opera Proserpine (1887). These remarkable compositions have been skillfully adapted by the esteemed flautist Paul Taffanel, who was not only a close friend but also a colleague of Saint-Saens. These arrangements are part of the esteemed French Flute Encores Series, edited by Edward Blakeman, catering to flautists of all ages with a skill level ranging from Grades 5 to 6.
Edward Blakeman’s Description
Pavane de Proserpine and Reverie du Soir by Camille Saint-Saens arranged by Paul Taffanel, edited by Edward Blakeman.
The flute has a special place in the music of Saint-Saens which it owes largely to Paul Taffanel. The two musicians were colleagues and great friends. Saint-Sens was godfather to Taffenel’s daughter and he wrote the virtuoso Voliere in the Carnival of the Animals and the Airs de Ballet in opera Ascanio specially for Taffanel, as well as the Caprice on Danish and Russian Airs. In fact, whenever you hear one of the wonderful flute solos in Saint-Saen’s works it’s tempting to think that he had Taffanel’s uniquely expressive playing in mind when composing.
Taffanel certainly returned the compliment. He had a lifelong admiration for Saint-Saen’s music and championed it in his dual careers of flute player and conductor. What attracted him no doubt, was the distinctive combination of classical coolness and romantic lyricism-qualities much in evidence in the Pavane and Reverie which he arranged for flute and piano. They come from a series of eight transcriptions of Saint-Saens’s orchestral and operatic works which Taffanel made in the 1880’s.
The opera Proserpine (1887) tells the melodramatic story of a beautiful courtesan in Renaissance Florence, and the Pavane reflects the surface elegance of a glittering, antique world where passions run deep. Reverie du Soir comes from the orchestral Suite Algerienne (1880)-a picture postcard travelogue if what was then a French colonial outpost in North Africa and a favourite holiday destination for Saint-saens. The flute theme for this movement actually came to him on his first visit there in 1875 and the piece originally stood alone under the title Reverie Orientale. It conveys all the lingering sensuality of the sounds and scents of the oriental night at Blidah.
Edward Blakeman
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns
Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) was a renowned French composer, organist, conductor and pianist. His prolific body of works includes 14 operas, songs, concerti, chamber music, and sacred music, most notably ‘Symphony No.3’ and ‘Carnival of the Animals’.
As a child prodigy, he gave his first recital in 1846 and studied at the Paris Conservatoire. He became the organist at the Church of the Madeleine in 1857. In 1871, he co-founded the National Society of Music. Le Rouet d’Omphale and Danse Macabre are among his widely performed symphonic poems. His opera Samson et Dalila achieved success after its premiere in 1890.
Saint-Saëns upheld a conservative ideal of French music and left a lasting impact on the musical scene.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Camille-Saint-Saens
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